March 26, 2026
Mr. Welch (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Markey) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
To require the Secretary of the Interior to annually submit to Congress, and make publicly available on a website, a report on decommissioning offshore oil and gas wells, platforms, and pipelines, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Plug Offshore Wells Act
.
Sec. 2. Annual report on decommissioning offshore oil and gas wells, platforms, and pipelines
(a) Definitions
In this Act:
(1) Decommissioning
The term decommissioning has the meaning given the term in section 250.1700 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation).
(2) Secretary
The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.
(b) Annual report
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress and make publicly available on the website of the Department of the Interior a report that describes, with respect to the preceding calendar year—
(1)
the number of applications for decommissioning an offshore oil and gas well, platform, or pipeline that were required to be submitted pursuant to subpart Q of part 250 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations);
(2)
the number of applications described in paragraph (1) that were received by the Secretary;
(3)
the number of offshore oil and gas wells, platforms, and pipelines for which decommissioning did not occur by the date required pursuant to subpart Q of part 250 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations);
(4)
the number of offshore oil and gas wells and platforms approved for decommissioning in place pursuant to section 250.1750 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation);
(5)
the length of any offshore oil and gas pipelines that—
(A)
were decommissioned in place pursuant to section 250.1750 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation); and
(B)
were removed pursuant to—
(i)
section 250.1752 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation); and
(ii)
section 250.1754 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation); and
(6)
the status of enforcement actions, including notices of incident of noncompliance, orders, citations, civil penalties, and disqualifications from future offshore operations, by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement with respect to decommissioning offshore oil and gas wells, platforms, and pipelines.